


A Human's Trait

by ProvenTitan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (honestly I have no idea where this is going), (that may change?), Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, Plotbunnies, Slow Updates, They've taken over, no current pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 17:46:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8066866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProvenTitan/pseuds/ProvenTitan
Summary: "No-one quite knows how it began, but most people assume it was evolution or something. A higher form of humanity. Bit pretentious, if you ask me, but it’s better than some of the other theories out there."
Sans is normal. Chill. Nothing particularly off about him, a "good guy", most might say. I mean sure, he's got the power to turn invisible, but heck, so do a lot of people these days. 12% of the population, even.So, yeah. Nothing special.(really.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyy, i have no idea where this is going, so it's going to be sporadic updating (like you haven't heard that before). surprisingly, i haven't forgotten about What A Meaningful Conversation, despite the fact i haven't updated it for 5 months. i will get round to that. at some point.  
> probably.

No-one quite knows how it began, but most people assume it was evolution or something. A higher form of humanity. Bit pretentious, if you ask me, but it’s better than some of the other theories out there. That “the government released something into the air to alter DNA”, or that “magic-wielding monsters cross-bred with human many years ago”, resulting in extraordinary abilities for the descendants. They’re two of the more popular alter-theories, ones not taught in school but widely believed anyway. Personally, I’m not sure which one’s more stupid.

 

Probably the former, considering it doesn’t even try to explain why it’s only a small percentage of a population that possess _traits,_ but it is a global phenomenon. Conspiracy theorists, the lot of ‘em.

 

Either way, the results are the same. Some people among millions of others are born with ‘gifts’ or ‘abilities’ that have been labelled _Traits._ It started appearing so long ago that people can’t really remember – hence the numerous theories – but that only means that humanity as a whole has had a decent enough time to get used to the idea. So, we get to skip all the horrible blood, gore, modern-witch-hunt-y stuff, like in all of the other stories like this. I guess, it helps that _traits_ tend to follow a pattern, as well. Somehow, if it’s (vaguely) quantifiable, it’s less scary.

 

There are seven _traits_ , and they don’t really have special names beyond what you might expect them to be called. Flight, Invisibility, Fire Manipulation (or pyrokinesis, if you’re really that bothered), Gravity Manipulation (geokinesis, same), Healing, (Super) Strength, and Telekinesis (because “far off manipulation” sounds stupid). The _traits_ tend to stick with the same sort of people every time they manifest, which is sort of what I meant by quantifiable.  It was how _traits_ came to public knowledge. Honestly, you’d be surprised how long people managed to cover up a massive global mutation in so many people. Almost 12% of the population. On a global scale, that’s 840 million people out of the total number on Earth. Roughly. And it increases, slowly, day by day.

 

I’m sure you’re curious how everyone found out, aren’t you? I’m getting to that. Basically, it’s also how we found out that _traits_ follow a pattern, which helped calm the immediate furore around these ‘dangerous people, who could cause devastation at a moment’s notice’. That’s a direct quote from a British minister from about 130 years ago, by the way. He was dismissed within a few months after that debacle, so you can tell how long _anti-trait_ views (lovingly known as excavation, or ex-vation, which I assume is derived from cutting through traits of rock?) have been taboo. The first _trait_ to be properly discovered was Fire manipulation. Guess what kind of people had that?

 

Fire fighters.

 

It was a massive uproar, and for a while most people thought that these people had become fire fighters because of their power (which there were conflicting viewpoints about whether it was selfless or not). Eventually, however, it was discovered that it was the _other way round,_ that those predisposed to the bravery necessary to become a firefighter (or any other thrillseeker) were far more likely to develop pyrokinesis. Unfortunately, this lead to a period known as the ~~Great Idiocy~~ Fervency Movement, in which many people attempted to do stupid things like base jump off of rooftops or hang-glide over Victoria Falls (and other stuff adrenaline junkies reportedly did) in order to “gain” the bravery to possess Fire. It didn’t go quite as they planned, surprisingly, and further research into the subject found that the _character traits_ that the _power traits_ relied on were 9 times out of 10, a genetic thing. (This is also when we started calling them _traits_ , instead of superpowers or something equally stupid).

 

Then was the emergence of the other _traits_ , Gravity, Wings (or Flight), Invisibility and so on. And now, it’s pretty normal to see wings on the dude down the street, or realise that your next-door-neighbour has frequently invisible kids. Bless.

 

The correlation between traits and _traits (ayyyyyyy)_ meant that it was primarily a lot of ordinary people who gained a _trait_ , rather than anyone particularly famous. This helped people to mainly chill about the possible consequences of so many people suddenly taking after the Avengers, because so many people were just normal. They didn’t want to leave their normal jobs and normal lives, and the fact that just as many, if not more, **neutral** people gained _traits_ , as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people helped a lot of people see a perspective in the whole thing. Although there was that one singer who reportedly had telekinesis but then “died tragically” of a heart attack. Whilst out walking. In a field.

 

Anyways. This typically meant the whole ‘kill everyone whose different’ phase didn’t last as long as it probably would have otherwise, only about 60-70 years were we really **openly** oppressed. After that, people started to see reason, and everything cooled down.

 

Anyway, I’m sure you’re getting kind of tired of me prattling on about _traits_ and powers and stuff, and probably wondering what the hell this has to do with you.

 

Well, the answer is; nothing.

 

This a research essay for my class. So you’re basically pointless, and non-existent, and I’m just using the imagination I have of you stored in my head to get a decent grade.

Sorry.

 

* * *

 

 

“…Unorthodox, don’t you think, Sans?” Ms. Cutler sighed, staring at Sans’ amused face, “The format is certainly interesting, and though your tone leaves a little to be desired for a _research paper_ , I can’t actually fault the research itself. So good for you, you did well. I’ll give you your essay back once I’ve marked it, and updated your grade.”

 

“Thanks, Ms. You’re a cut above the rest, make no mistake.” Sans’ lazy smile widened in glee as Cutler glared balefully at him. He pushed his glasses up with one finger and shrugged helplessly, “What? You gotta stop glaring so  _heatedly_ , Cuddy, these glasses ain’t UV.”

 

“Urgh! Out! I’ve had enough, you’ve been here for over an hour. How are you not attacked every time you open your mouth?”

 

“I’m deadicated.”

 

“Stop! Out!” The door swung open violently, as Cutler gestured with her hand. “I don’t want to see, hear or _smell_ you until next lesson. Go!”

 

“That makes sense.”

 

“Sans.”

 

He grinned childishly back at her, dodging the book soaring at his head and backing out of the room. Once the door shut (again, without touch) his grin slipped slightly. That paper had been hard to write. He’d had to censor so much of his research, simply because he shouldn’t know as much as he did, which had left him with great gaping holes in his supposedly “3000 word” essay. Eventually, he’d fallen back on his old skill with comedy, and turned to research report into an intelligent sketch, the kind he was best at. His smile widened again. It paid off to be smart.

 

He pushed off the wall with his elbows, hands still in pockets, and slunk around the corner. Then, with a mental flex, he vanished.

 

(what. did you think after all the research you just read, that the person writing it _wouldn’t_ have a trait? no common sense, i tell ya).

 

**Author's Note:**

> and that's all she wrote, folks!  
> (literally, this is all i have written for this AU).  
> my muse has apparently taken a year-long holiday, so god knows when this is going to get updated again.  
> but hopefully, it won't be ridiculous.  
> though it probably will be, so let's be real.


End file.
